Packing of wire or the like



7 Nov. 20, 1928.

A. W. SAULTER PACKING OF WIRE OR THE LIKE Filed Sept. 21, 1926 Fatented Nov. 20, 1928.

UMTED. sTATEs ALFRED WALTEB eme LON N ENGLAND- PACKING or WIRE on LIKE.

Application filed. September 21,. 192 Serial No. 136,851, and in reat Britain September 25, 1 925.

At present it is the practice to place coils of wire in containers, by simply winding the coil of wire and tying it with a piece or pieces of cord or tape which when out or removed generally render it diiiicult for the wire to be unwound without getting it ei'itangled. Also it is often difficult to keep the coil wound once it has been used and this entails inconvenience and waste, the coil, especially with rery re silient wire, springing 'o'utas soon as a person attempts to remove a length of the wire. The object of my invention is to obviate this disadvantage and my invention is broadly characterized in that the container or package adapted to accommodate a coil of wire or other coiled material, also constitutes a supl'aorting'device upon which wire or the like can be wound and from which it can be unwound substantially after the manner of being wound on to or off a spool.

In order to avoid needless repetition, I shall hereinafter refer to the wire or other flexible material, for instance, string, cor-d, rope, tape, tubing etc. as wire.

In carrying my invention into practice I provide two blanks of cardboard or other suitable material spaced apart wlth their planes parallel and connected by a member adapted to serve as a spindle around which the wire is to be wound, the two blanks acting as flanges at the ends of the said member to keep the wire in posit-ion.

The two blanks are formed with cuts so that they can be folded to constitute the walls of a box, whereby when the wire is wound on to the said member the operator can fold the sides of the blanksto provide a box in which the coil of wire can be marketed.

The member connecting the two blanks maybe in the form of a cylindrical piece cardboard, tin or other suitable material, ends being adapted to be secured in circular holes in the centres of the blanks. The ends of the cylindrical member could be glued, splayed, flared or in any othersuitable manner secured in position. A suitable method could be by fitting ti htly into a cardboard orother sleeve a further sleeve which protrudes from each end of the outer sleeve. The ends of the outer sleeve would constitute abutments against the opposing faces of the blank, and the ends of the inner sleeve would be splayed or flare-d out against the outer sides of the blanks. Another suitable method when employing a cylindrical member of tin or other suitable metal is to form a swage or bead or projections around the cylindrical member adjacent 1ts ends to provide abutments against the inner opposing faces of the blanks," the extremities of the cylindrical member being splayed, flared or otherwise turned out. V 7

Suitable forms of blanks are a rectangular one for "one side and acruciform shaped blank for the other side. The limbs of the cruciform blank are adapted tobe folded towards theother blank at right angles to form a box like member. The rectangular blank would have its sides folded and cut so that they could be folded in to form a box like member. B; this means the sides of one box like member could be accommodated within the sides of the other box like member thereby providing a totally enclosed container.

In order that my invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into eiiect I have appended hereto a sheet of drawings illustrating somewhat diagrammatically an embodiment of same, wherein Fig. 1 is'a perspective view illustrating the disposition of the two blanks, which go to make the walls of the container, in relation to the member around which the wire or other flexible materialis wound.

Fig. 2 is a perspectiveoutside View of the container when closed.

Fig. 3 is a view showing how the SiCdS of one of the blanks are folded in to obtain the box like configuration, and

Fig. at is a sectional elevation view through a container, and showing a suitable form of metal member around which the wire or otherfiexible material is adapted to be wound.

Referring to the drawings it will be seen that the wire 1 is adapted to be wound upon a construction of device which functions in addition to a container after the manner of a spool, and as is well known it has been quite common practice for a long while to wind wire on to spools, the spools sometimes being subsequently wrapped or surrounded with a covering of paper or other separate material therefore the coiling of the wire does not necessarilypresent-any difiiculty or novel construction of coiling device.

The container comprises a central core 2 and a pair of blanks a and b secured upon the outer ends of the core 2. The core 2 may be of any suitable material, for instance a piece of wood glued or otherwise secured to the blanks a and b. In Figs. 1, 2 and 3 the core 2 is shown as comprising a pair of cardboard cylinders and d fitted tightly one within the other, the inner cylinder 0 being longer than the outer cylinder cl so that the ends of the cylinder 0 project beyond the ends of the outer cylinder cl. The ends of the outer cylinder, cl are adapted to abut against the inner opposing faces of the blanks a and b, and the ends of the inner cylinder 0 are passed through holes of the same diameter as the outer diameter of the cylinder 0 1n the blanks a and b, the projecting ends of the cylinder 0 being 'fiared or spread outwards. This flaring or spreading can be eiiected by cutting small slits in the ends of the member 0 and turning the thus separated parts over as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

The blank a is of cruciform configuration and its limbs e .are adapted to be folded inwards on the lines 4 to obtain a box like member. The blank 6 is of rectangular outline and is slitted as at 5, one slit 5 being provided in each edge at right angles to the edge in which it is cut. This blank Z) is adapted to be folded on the lines 6 to produce a box like member to fit within the other boX like member formed from the blank a. The pro jecting portions 7 formed by the slits 5 being toldable on the lines 8 inside the sides of the box like member as shown in Fig. 3.

When a sheet metal, or a cast or pressed metal sleeve like core member 2 is employed it may be formed with beads or swages 9 adj acent its ends, as shown in Fig. a such beads or swages constituting abutments to engage the inner opposing faces of the blanks a and Z). The extremities of the member 2 can be flared or turned outwards against the outer faces of the blanks a and?) in any suitable manner.

The cylindrical member is supported upon a rotary member so that wire can be wound thereon. As soon as the desired length of wire 1s wound upon the cylindrical member the wire is cut and secured, and the sides of the blanks folded in to form the box like container and suitably sealed or fastened, and the box with its coil of wire removed from the rotary member. A substantially reverse operation can be adapted for unwinding the coil, by pressing a stick or rod through the cylindrical member to support the box. By opening out the sides of the box, the wire can be unwound in desired lengths by pulling on the wire. This procedure obviates risk of the wire becoming entangled, working loose or being wasted.

The container can be sealed or maintained closed by a strip of adhesive material around its sides or in any other suitable manner I am aware that heretofore it has been proposed to provide a container for thread and the like, in which an elongated box folded from a one piece blank has supported in holes in its ends a sleeve or like element passing axially through the box and having wound upon it the thread which is unwound by being pulled from the sleeve through a corner of the box where two ed es of the blank meet. Further it has heretofore been proposed to provide a container ii'or coiled wire in which a polygonal lid is fitted upon a polygonal base, the lid and the base having each a concentric aperture formed by turning up tongues from the lid and base, the tongues having attached to them stripsto provide a continuous polygonal wall concentric with the periphery of the base and the lid, the two concentric polygonal walls fitting one within the other so that a substantially annular space is provided inside the container to accommodate the coil of wire.

What I claim is 1. A reel packet comprising a core member on and from which material is adapted to be wound and unwound, and a pair of blanks of sheet material rigidly secured respectively to the ends oi said core member, said blanks having lateral flaps foldable to produce a container to house material wound upon said core member.

2. A reel packet comprising a core on and from which material is adapted to be wound and unwound, said core being composed of a pair of members one of which is tubular and fits over the other, said tubular member being of less length than the other member whereby the end portions 01' the latter extend beyond the ends of the former, and a pair of blanks of sheet material mounted respectively on the ends of the inner core member with their inner faces abutting the ends of said tubular core member, the outer end portions of said inner core member being formed to engage with the outer faces of said. blanks to retain them rigidly against the ends oi said tubular core member, said blanks having lateral flaps foldable to produce a container to house material wound on said core.

3. A reel packet comprising a core member on and from which material is adapted to be wound and unwound, and a pair of blanks of sheet material carried by said core member, each of said blanks including portions foldable into overlapping relation with companion portions of the other blank to provide a container to house material wound on said core member.

' ALFRED WALTER SAULTER, 

